Toyota modify Hiace van to transport COVID-19 patients

Japanese car manufacturer Toyota announced that it has successfully provided Showa University Hospital in Shinagawa City, Tokyo a specially designed transport vehicle for seriously ill COVID-19 patients from one location to another.

The vehicle in question is a modified Toyota Hiace van outfitted by Toyota Auto Body Co., Ltd. based on a variety of requests from medical facilities.

What makes this vehicle so different from a regular Hiace is the fact that it has been developed as an “airborne droplet circulation control vehicle.” Meaning the back end of the van has been fitted with an exhaust fan which continuously throws out air from the vehicle, preventing the possibly contaminated air in the rear section from circulating to the forward compartment.

The transport vehicle for seriously ill COVID-19 patients provided by Toyota joins 11 other transport vehicles for mildly infected patients already provided by the Toyota Group to such entities as medical facilities and local governments.